Discussion

East Coast Subs - Where to Find or How to Recreate

I lived in NJ for a while, enough to discover all their treasures (subs, bagels, great chinese, etc.). I was reading Super Bowl food recs and got a hankering for a East Coast type sub. I remembering not being able to eat Subway for 10 years after I had relocated from NJ. I'm wondering if there is a place where you could get NJ/NY type subs in the Bay Area, preferably the East Bay. If not, how would you recreate one. I think I remember shredded lettuce and then oil and vinegar w/ salt & pepper. Where would you get the right bread and where's a good deli for meat? Help me with this craving!

Grinders Submarine Sandwiches in Oakland's Montclair district is said to have East Coast type subs. it is on my to try list, so can't say The owner is suposed to be a sub nazi which is why they yelp reviews only give it 3 1/2 stars. He gets marked down for attitudehttp://www.yelp.com/biz/grinders-subm...

I think that Rotten City Pizza does the closest to an East Coast meatball sub than anything else i've tried.

i had a lovely sandwich in Napa at the Crossroads Chicken truck that reminded me of an East Coast sub because it was nicely toasted in their wood oven ... the ingredients though had nothing to do with the East Coast. I tried to talk him into making meatball subs because in that oven, I bet they'd be wonderful.

But I digress. For cold cuts i'd go to an Italian deli such as Geneva or Zarri's. Roll ... can't think of a good East Coast type.

I love Genova and they do have soft rolls, but their sandwiches are a different breed of animal from a Philadelphia hoagie. To me the big difference is that the provolone we have out here is no where near as sharp.

Boccalone Salumeria in Ferry building has decent meats and bread, cheese at Cowgirl next door, vegetables on site as well. Buy a crushed hot pepper spread, lettuce tomatoes, onions, and good olive oil and you should be good to go.

Boy I hope that white stuff isn't fresh mozzarella.http://www.piccolospizza.net/images/s.....Piccolo's Pizza and Liquors, 913 Main St, Paterson NJ 07503Oh and i think those are seeds on top. Never say never.

Being an east coaster that is not always the case. The finer Italian shops use fresh mozz on the subs or grinders if you ask for mozz. Your everyday pizza shop might not use it, but a quality Italian deli, panini, sandwich shop is. Especially a parm wedge, sub, grinder, hero whatever you call it. :)

But I hear what you are saying, that great sub from your local shop has thinly sliced sharp provolone.

My East Coast days predate the finer Italian shop trend. It was just the Italian families in town using humble ingredients and achieving grinder greatness. They served working class families and the food had better be tasty or there would be none of those hard-earned dollars spent.

Fresh mozzarella is popular nowadays, but it's not a common part of a hero in NY. I'd never heard of fresh mozzarella until the mid-90s. It's still common to get a caprese salad in NY that's served with Polly-o cheese.

It only became a food trend in the 90's, but Dipalo, Joe's Dairy, Russo's, Alleva, Casa Della Mozzarella, Caputo's Mastellone's, Esposito's and an endless list of others have made fresh mozzarella as long as they've been open.

Defonte's, and Parisi didn't just add it to sandwiches in the 90's.

Many places use Polly-O curds as their preference to stretch into Mozzarella balls.

I'm not saying fresh mozzarella didn't exist in NYC's specialty shops and the places with more traditional Italian ingedients. The best of the best in NY might have had fresh mozzarella on their menus for decades, but this was and still is hardly the norm, especially outside NYC proper.

Where, outside of NYC, did you get a grinder/hoagie/hero with fresh mozzarella on it before it became popular in the 90s?

I checked the websites of a few places I used to get sandwiches at on Long Island. All are closed but two, and neither have fresh mozzarella in their hot or cold heroes. And that's within 50 miles of NYC. Go further away, and it's less common. You won't find it on the menu at Dibella's (founded 1918) in upstate NY, arguably the best sub I've ever eaten, and now a small chain: http://www.dibellas.com/

We're getting off topic for this forum, but New Jersey has some of the freshest mozzarella in the US, where they will roll it to order, and hand it to you before it's cooled. Despite your own personal exposure they didn't wait until the 90's to add it to sandwiches.

I grew up in northern delaware. We had subs. My high school had a sub fundraiser - subs were the local food. The closest you'll get around here is going to an italian deli (which have been closing, but there's still some of the old ones left - Genova on Telegraph) and get oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, on an "italian" (god forbid, no mayo, mustard is suspect). Especially if they add peppers ("pickled" peppers, not green peppers). A subway sub asked for the same way is not entirely out of the question, and what I order when I'm in that mood. There used to be an italian deli near the corner of 40th and Piedmont where the guy would light up when I ordered that, and make a good one, but that deli's been gone over a decade. The bread is essentially the same as you'd use for a cheesesteak, and the old italian delis have it as the default bread. Good luck!

Boccalone's Italian sausage panino with onions and pickled peppers might hit the spot for someone craving a grinder, but I think that's a different East Coast regional tradition than the cold cuts with lettuce, oil, and vinegar. Cosentino's from Rhode Island. Pastore's also from New England.

The OP is talking about a “Jersey-style” sub, and though I’d gladly trade a few of the best of them from here at the Shore for a trip to Boccalone’s right now, rw’s correct* – that ain’t the meat your looking for on a sub. Frankly, most of the better Jersey shops use Boar’s Head which might even be available at a Safeway or other supermarket (at least they are on the East Coast).

bbulkow seems to have identified the correct bread – it’s a bit soft. As to toppings, shredded lettuce, thinly sliced tomatoes and onions, ground black pepper, thin red wine vinegar, and inexpensive olive oil are the standards. Pickled, sliced cherry peppers would have to be requested.

(It’s sort of funny to be longing for what I’d be eating out there and stumble upon someone there longing to eat something so easy to grab here.)

*rw’s also correct about the mozzarella – provolone would be the proper cheese, and not a very sharp one either.